Yi Xin Vegetarian - Tianhe District

怡新素食, at 天河区林和西路161号中泰国际广场6楼, is also known as Refreshing Vegetarian Restaurant. Has English descriptions on menu. Take the escalator on the left side of the building (restaurant is situated above the McDonalds). Located opposite Guangzhou East railway Station. Not accessible for wheelchairs.

8 Reviews

At first it's a little hard to find. But if you look for the staircase next to the small money changer, then you'll have found it. You have to go up the stairs, then take the escalators a few flights up.
I went at 4:30pm so it was very quiet. Surprisingly, at 5:45pm when I finished, most tables were taken. It was eerie as the place seems out of the public eye but then comes alive with customers in the evening. I was greeted by a friendly guy who spoke English very well.

The food: the menu is extensive and middle of the road regarding prices. I ordered the Tofu special for 46 rmb. Deliciously prepared with slices of red, green and yellow peppers as well as onions and a pinch of spice.! Also got veggie dumplings. (15rmb)
They were tasty though fell apart easily.

Customer service was fine as there were a lot of "girls" around at all times. They did try to charge 3rmb for tea but I mentioned that the waitress said it was complimentary. Napkins will also set you back 2 yuan so bring your own.

The decor was indeed interesting as well. See photos.
Can't go wrong for the $. I'll go back tonight. It's right near the bus station and above a small McDonalds. Entrance stairway in photo.

We have dined at Yi Xin Vegetarian several times since 2012. The menu is extensive, with dozens of dishes. It offers not only vegetarian (and vegan) version of classic dishes, such as Mapo doufu (Mapo Tofu), but also new and creative dishes.
But the excellent menu is contrasted by poor service. This is not a matter of language, but of attitude. The servers simply do not appear to care for the diners.
Even more concerning is the lack of cleanliness. The restaurant is nicely decorated, so I was surprised by the dirty and smelly toilet. Also, the servers leave their order sheets on the table, not a way to ward off disease, and charge you 2 RMB for napkins.
A modest dinner costs about 100 RMB per person. At this price level, one can expect better service and hygiene. Otherwise, we will not come back here.

This is where I take friends visiting from out of town. Champion menu (although a bit on the pricey side - like $8 entrees) with the whole gamut from spicy Szechuan to the more aromatic Cantonese styles. Most of the vegan meats are made in-house and portions are huge, so make sure not to let your eyes get too big for your stomach. This place also makes vegan cakes + cookies if you've got a sweet tooth. It should be mentioned that Yi Xin is on the 4th floor of the building. The 2nd floor looks somewhat post-zombie apocalypse and the 3rd floor is a fish restaurant with a big, fat statue of Mao in the front. One more escalator up is Yo Xin, and well worth the trip. The "skin bag" dumplings, black rice with pine nuts and broiled eggplant + mushroom dishes would be welcome on any menu. The pastry-wrapped papaya swans aren't the most delicious things in the world, but probably one of the most interesting I've seen plopped down on the dinner table. The Szechuan flash-fried chiles made my boy parts tingle. Did I mention that I'm going back tomorrow?

I've been their once when I was in Guangzhou. Rude staff, bad customer service. Good food but Staff are rude. If you don't look European/Caucasian and have darker skin tone, well get ready for some bad customer service. I went on a Friday night, was very busy. They sat me down on a small table near the smelly toilet. No one wanted to serve me, so I went to the counter and ordered. I was so mad with the treatment, I ordered so much food, I couldn't finish any dishes so I took the leftovers home. I spent nearly $100usd, so they finally started to give me the royal treatment, every minute a staff would come ask if i needed anything, and finally they were smiling and treating nicely like they were to the other customers.

the place is very easy to find though.

Directions:
From Guangzhou East railway station, Exit"B". Keep walking for 100 metres till the road ends, then turn right, you should see a McDonalds, to the left of the McDs, there is stairs. Take the stairs then couple of escalators all the way to the 3rd or 4th floor until you see a large Buddha statue. The restaurant entrance is just to the right of the statue.

Just a street across from East Station, the location can't be beat. Food was quite good - although a little greasy for my taste - but it didn't taste of MSG. Extensive menu and huge portions, although many items used fake meat.

The bad -

Atmosphere and décor was nice at first glance; when I looked closer, there was gunk on the table, the shelves were all dusty, the menu was sticky. And then the restroom - my partner warned me against it after he went when he almost got knocked over by the ammonia smell. Granted, it wasn't that bad by local standards - I've experienced worse - but I simply don't understand why they wouldn't make an effort to maintain proper hygiene. If you can get past that, it's a fine place conveniently located next to one of the city's major transport hubs.

The menu is like 30 pages long and it has pictures and English names of all items written.

Very easy to order food here and it pretty much all tastes good. I ordered over 8 items and loved them all.

The service is excellent - since my server didnt speak English she brought the owner of the resistant to come and speak with me. Paul is a genuinely good person - he started this restaurant because he himself is a vegetarian and wants to make a difference in the world by educating people about the benefits of this diet.

The place is located literally right in front of the Guangzhou railway station so it's very easy to get to.

I have eaten here five or six times now and tried a number of dishes. Most have been quite good. A couple of mushroom dishes were particularly good. There was only one dish that I didn't care for; this was eggplant, mushroom, and red bean patties. The combination just didn't work for me. The place can be busy in the evenings. The restaurant is very clean and has a soothing Buddhist ambiance. The dishes are described in English. Dishes described as spicy are spicy. Once I was there early in the evening, between 5 and 5:30PM. During this time the staff, except for a couple of people, form two lines along the entrance way and recite very loudly in unison. It's fine to walk through and take a seat during this time. You can go ahead and order, but your food will take some time. The place is across the street from the Guangzhou East Train station, which is a stop on the 1 and 3 Metro lines. If you exit the West side of the train station, cross the street, and walk one block South. There's a McDonalds on the corner. To the left of the McDonalds you'll see the escalator that you take to the fourth floor. It's one floor above the Mao's Bay restaurant. Prices are pretty much in the same moderate range as other vegetarian restaurants I have tried in Guangzhou with dishes in the range of 30 - 50 RMB. Portions are ample so one dish per person in your party should be plenty.

4 of us ate there and had 5 or 6 different dishes:
Pot of Buckwheat tea for table
Seitan Pepper Steak
Vegetable Soup (similar to Vietnamese coconut soup)
Tofu skin cutlets (tasted like chicken cuts)
Large wrap of veggies (like big dumplings)
Tofu cutlets (we think it was eggplant)
The food was excellent!
English was an issue, but the menus have photos and english titles also. The waitresses did their best and we managed.
The whole meal came out to 74.5 RB each so we left 80 each ($12.70 USD). It was so good, that 2 of of plan to go there for lunch tomorrow!